Wedding Dress Nightmares

I’m pretty sure most of you won’t be able to relate to this post, but if you can, I hope it is encouraging to you that not everyone looks forward to the dress shopping experience. And if you’re a bride who loved going to stores and trying on dresses, that’s awesome! It just wasn’t for me.

Because most brides do look forward to dress shopping, right? It’s often one of the most anticipated and biggest events of the wedding planning process. For various reasons, this was not how I felt—from the very beginning. In fact, the idea of going shopping with a group of females and trying on dresses was pretty terrifying. I’m fairly small, so I was afraid that dresses would look huge and unflattering on me…and I’m also working with a pretty small budget, so I was worried about finding a dress in my price range. I’m also just not a shopper. I buy a lot of clothes online and in thrift stores and generally avoid high end stores and fancy dressing rooms.

(Again, this whole post is the way I feel about wedding dress shopping-probably not the experience of most!)

After the newly engaged period was over, I immediately turned to looking at dresses online. One of the first places where I looked was J. CREW, for three reasons.

1. J. CREW has the kind of simple understated elegance I was looking for in a wedding dress.

2. The prices weren’t more than my entire budget combined.

3. I know my size from J. CREW, which meant I could order online and not worry about it fitting.

You probably notice a theme in the dresses above. First of all, they’re straight and simple. I want to wear a dress that reflects my everyday personality. A lot of people say that you don’t know what kind of dress you want until you try it on, but based on dresses I’ve chosen (or vehemently discarded) for other formal events, I am 100% confident a poofy dress is not for me. Second, none of these dresses are strapless, both because of comfort and family reasons. Third, all of these dresses are under $1000 (in some cases under $500).

I think all of these are beautiful! In fact, I probably would wear any of the dresses above. I did have a preference from the beginning. Mr. Lemur vetoed some of them—yes, he’s seen my dress and actually helped me pick it out. Nontraditional, I know!

I started looking around online to see if I could find any of them even cheaper. I highly recommend this, even if you think your dress is a bargain already. There are some great resale and discount sites out there (more on this in the next post).

Which dress do you like the most? Any other brides out there go an nontraditional route and skip the bridal salon experience?

Before I started shopping I was convinced I’d end up with something J.Crew or Ann Taylor. Last summer when I had the prospect of potentially needing to have a quick wedding (for a family member to be able to be there) I ordered an on sale chiffon Sophia – it was pretty, but did not flatter me the way I expected it to.

I always wanted a leaner, more casual or slinky silhouette. I decided to go to stores because I’m in a location with tons all around, just to see what I like. I think I’m going to end up getting a Vera Wang white that is a similar silhouette to those you posted. I also may pop into the Jcrew shop once they open the Bridal Salon again (though I’m usually more apt to order online – they are right down the street), but I’m concerned about the filmyness showing off lumps and bumps a little too much.

For dress shopping – I dragged my finance around rather than anyone else. It was just easier that way. I sent photos to my mom and some friends to get their opinions / let them be included in that way.

I’m not a fan of the dress shopping experience, but I jumped in head first when I realized some items I liked were selling out, and my window to get my dress is closing. So I hit up all the stores in the last couple weeks when I could squeeze it in. Hope I’m about done!

I purchased a JCrew gown and couldn’t be happier. My bridesmaids even purchased seasonal dresses right off the rack! JCrew made the whole experience painless and I highly recommend them to any bride who isn’t crazy

@lazy: It definitely depends on the person. I’m really small umm… everywhere, so I didn’t need much (any?) support up top. I guess that can be a positive and a negative! The chiffon is pretty forgiving because the flowy top layer kind of skims over my body, but like I said I’m pretty small.

I almost went shopping with Mr. Lemur!! I would have except I was too nervous of what other people would think. I wish I hadâ€”props to you!